A little snag right out the retirement gate....

keedge

New Member
So, it's been 30 days since I last worked and am officially 3 weeks into retirement. Mentally I am there. Totally love it so far. I was surprized that I haven't thought about or dreamed about work. I used to dream of work most nights when I was working.... in the dreams I am trying to do my job and having problems. Ugh... but no more.

Now for the "snag":
Got a quick test of the medical coverage as my wife just got out of the hospital after being in for 6 days. I thought my work medical coverage was good for 30 days after I retired. But alas nope. Apparently, it was the end of the month, I retired, and I retired on 12/31/2025. Given that I didn't start my switch to ACA coverage until the day after my retirement (thinking I had 30 days). Did the same for my wife, to switch her from original Medicare (with parts A, B, D) to the Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantge plan. But that doesn't kick in until Feb 1st.

My wife is on disability so already had medicare, but not part C. We are both 62, and luckily my wife has medicare disabiltiy. We have always used to her being double covered while I was working. So will be interesting to see the difference now that it is only medicare for her. But didn't expect to test it so soon. And with 6 days in the hospital it will be interesting to see what the costs are given that she isn't double covered anymore and doesn't have part C until Feb 1st.

My wife was stressed out, but I just told her this is why I put money away, especially for things like this. I also stated that this will be a good comparative test to see what a stay like this costs on medicare without part C. Once she is on Kaiser Senior Advantage, when this happens again (and it will), we will be able to see how much part C gets us. :)

As I understand it part A has a $1736 deductible, the actual room and board, tests, medications, etc.... are coverage under part A. So after the $1736 we will have a 20% charge for all the "doctor type stuff". Doctor visits, reading/interpreting tests/results. Have no idea what that number will look like. She is out now, but has 3 more days of daily IV antibiotics that I take her to the hospital to have done. But that is covered under part A according to the Care Manager.

Didn't expect to put my savings to use so quickly, but again, that is what it is for.
 

I'm single. All of this that you said just boggles my mind and wants to give me a headache. You seem to have a good understanding about it all. I wish you and your wife the best. Shame that so soon after retirement you have to have these stressors. Even so, there is joy to be found in your new life, even if some days you may have to look a little harder. 🌻💖🌻
 

This happened to my hubs and I. He was seriously ill right after retirement. With an Advantage Plan our bills were still in the 10K range for just the hospital stays. The total was over a million for that first year.

So sorry to hear that. It is very sad and shocking. It's good to share our lives here, the good, the bad, the in-between. We all have had some things worse and some things better at different times in our lives. But I know that some people feel so downtrodden by life that they feel they've never had anything good happen to them. 😢
 
So, it's been 30 days since I last worked and am officially 3 weeks into retirement. ...switch her from original Medicare (with parts A, B, D) to the Kaiser Permanente Senior Advantge plan. But that doesn't kick in until Feb 1st.
You might have a 60 day window (from the day you retired) to retroactively use COBRA to continue your work plan for January (by paying the whole monthly premium i.e., no employer contribution at all).
 

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